Things we associate with Belgium tend to be along the lines of Chocolate, Brussel Sprouts and Jean-Claude Van Damme. One of the things we don’t associate with Belgium is fucking intense hardcore. Now, Voyager have created a brilliant little four track banger in the shape of their ‘Tell-Tale Hearts’ EP.
Clocking in at almost 20 minutes long ‘Tell-Tale Hearts’ isn’t the shortest EP but for fans of the genre it’s the perfect length, they open things up with ‘From The Brain’ which launches with a big drum beat that threatens intentionally to go out of time. There’s a brief mix of clean vocals amongst the aggressiveness which does provide a nice respite but otherwise there’s nothing hugely remarkable about the track.
It all begins to get rowdy in second track ‘Where We’ll Start’ which employs the aforementioned combination of clean and heavy vocals absolutely perfectly. You can tell straight away that this track will be as intense in a live environment as it is on record. There’s a hint of a similar sound to that of Southampton’s Bury Tomorrow.
The problem with this genre is that if you’re not careful you can fall into the trap of sounding really samey. Luckily this is not something that happens with ‘Tell-Tale Hearts’ as each track lays down something which sets it apart from the others. The atmospheric intro to ‘The Long Lane’ is one of the best parts of the EP while the extended outro mixes nicely into the final song ‘To The Heart’ a song that builds and builds ending in a crescendo of brilliant noise with the final gang vocals sounding more like a choir than your bog standard shoutalong. It’s as haunting as it is epic.
As the drum beat fades out on last song ‘To The Heart’ you can’t help but wonder if Now, Voyager are the next big thing to come out of this genre.
CHRIS MARSHMAN